Falcon continued, "O my brothers and sisters, know that this hadith also demonstrates the importance of the heart, as the Prophet (ﷺ) said, "In the body there is a morsel of flesh which, if it be sound, all the body is sound and which, if it be diseased, all of the body is diseased. This part of the body is the heart." One must strive to purify his heart as it is the true key to behaving properly in this life and gaining Allah's pleasure and Paradise in the next life.
In the Quran, Allah Subhanahu wa-ta'Ala uses three words to describe our hearts: qalb, fu’aad and sadr. We know that every Arabic word is chosen for a reason, yet all three of these words for the most part are translated as “heart.” Shama asked, "So, what is the difference?" The Falcon said, "Qalb is the general word for heart. It comes from the root which means something that turns around and about and upside down. It is the nature of hearts that they are constantly changing, this is the normal state of our hearts. When Allah refers to emaan and diseases of the heart, qalb is used.
Fu’aad is from the verb fa’ada meaning burning or a flame and lahmun fa’eed means a roasted meat on a fire. Fu’aad is used when the heart is inflamed with emotion, as they say, “in the heat of the moment.” Fu’aad is used in the Qur’an to describe the heart when it is engrossed in emotion: happiness, sadness, lust, frustration, anger or regret. When Allah strengthened one's heart out of His Mercy, when he regained his emaan, patience and trust in Him, his fu’aad became qalb.
Sadr takes the meaning of chest, and when Allah eludes to motives or secrets, He uses sadr because it gives the illusion literally of a treasure chest: something hidden and boxed up. Shaytan does not make waswas (whispers) into our quloob, but rather he whispers in the chests of the people. There is a distinction because Allah ta’ala created the qalb as pure. The example of the heart is like a fort and the eyes,tongues,ears,hands are gates to the opening. Shaytan waits outside of this fort, attacking the openings trying to get in. Out of Allah’s mercy, He did not give Shaytan access to our quloob, but rather to our sudoor. It is us who let the gates open.
Just as the heart may be described in terms of being alive or dead, it may also be regarded as belonging to one of three types; these are the healthy heart, the dead heart, and the sick heart. The first heart is alive, submitted to Allah, humble, sensitive and aware; the second is brittle and dead; the third wavers between either its safety or its ruin. On the Day of Resurrection, only those who come to Allah with a healthy heart will be saved."
Parrot asked, "What is the healthy heart?" Falcon said, "In defining the healthy heart, the following has been said, " It is a heart cleansed from any passion that challenges what Allah commands, or disputes what He forbids. It is free from any impulses which contradict His good. As a result, it is safeguarded against the worship of anything other than Him, and seeks the judgement of no other except that of His Messenger Its services are exclusively reserved for Allah, willingly and lovingly, with total reliance, relating all matters to Him, in fear, hope and sincere dedication. When it loves, its love is in the way of Allah, if it detests, it detests in the light of what He detests. When it gives, it gives for Allah. If it withholds, it withholds for Allah. Nevertheless, all this will not suffice for its salvation until it is free from following, or taking as its guide, anyone other than His Messenger (ﷺ).
A servant with a healthy heart must dedicate it to its journey's end and not base his actions and speech on those of any other person except Allah's Messenger He must not give precedence to any other faith or words or deeds over those of Allah and His Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace."
Shama asked, "What is the dead heart?" Falcon said, "This is the opposite of the healthy heart. It does not know its Lord and does not worship Him as He commands, in the way which He likes, and with which He is pleased. It clings instead to its lusts and desires, even if these are likely to incur Allah's displeasure and wrath. It worships things other than Allah, and its loves and its hatreds, and its giving and its withholding, arise from its whims, which are of paramount importance to it and preferred above the pleasure of Allah. Its whims are its imam. Its lust is its guide. Its ignorance is its leader. Its crude impulses are its impetus. It is immersed in its concern with worldly objectives. It is drunk with its own fancies and its love for hasty, fleeting pleasures. It is called to Allah and the akhira from a distance but it does not respond to advice, and instead it follows any scheming, cunning shay tan. Life angers and pleases it, and passion makes it deaf and blind to anything except what is evil.
To associate and keep company with the owner of such a heart is to tempt illness: living with him is like taking poison, and befriending him means utter destruction.
Parrot asked, "And, what is the sick heart?" Falcon said, "This is a heart with life in it, as well as illness. The former sustains it at one moment, the latter at another, and it follows whichever one of the two manages to dominate it. It has love for Allah, faith in Him, sincerity towards Him, and reliance upon Him, and these are what give it life. It also has a craving for lust and pleasure, and prefers them, and strives to experience them. It is full of self-admiration, which can lead to its own destruction. It listens to two callers: one calling it to Allah and His Prophet (ﷺ) and the akhirah; and the other calling it to the fleeting pleasures of this world. It responds to whichever one of the two happens to have most influence over it at the time.
There are signs that one can notice within himself to be able to determine whether or not his heart is pure and wholesome. Many of these signs demonstrate that the pure and healthy heart is not inclined to this world but, instead, it is attached to Allah and the Hereafter.
These signs have been discussed by ibn al-Qayyim and they include the following: firstly, the person considers himself to be belonging to the next world and not this world. He is a stranger in this world and cannot wait to reach his abode in the Hereafter; secondly, the person continues to be upset with himself any time he commits a sin until he finally and completely repents to Allah; thirdly, If the person misses his daily recitation of the Quran and dhikr, he is more upset and unhappy than if he had lost his wealth; fourth, the individual finds a pleasure in worshipping Allah that is much greater than any pleasure he finds in eating or drinking; fitth, when the person begins his prayer, his worries and concerns about this world leave him; sixth, his only concern and worries are concerning Allah and acting for the sake of Allah; seventh, e is more concerned with wasting time and more stingy about wasting his time than a greedy person is with respect to his wealth. Time is one key element that everyone must use for the worship of Allah. Unfortunately, often Allah blesses people with free time and yet they have no idea how to use it, so they simply waste it; finally, the person is more concerned with the correctness of his deed than he is with the performance of the deed itself.
At the same time, there are many signs that a person's heart is impure or diseased. It is important to take note of these signs and cure the heart. Many people are concerned with the physical health of their hearts. If their blood pressure rises, they immediately seek help. However, the more important aspect is not the physical health of the heart but the spiritual health of the heart. This does not mean that one neglects the physical health of his heart. It does, though, mean that if one is only taking care of his heart's physical health, he is neglecting the more important factor, the factor that is more important for his health in this life and the Hereafter.
Ibn al-Qayyim also discussed the signs that indicate that there is an illness in the heart. These signs include the following: first, the person does not feel any hurt or pain when he commits evil deeds and sins; second, the individual finds both pleasure in committing acts of disobedience to Allah and rest after performing them; third, the person looks after the less important matters and does not care about the more important ones. Obviously, if a heart is sound, it will look after the person's best interest. When the heart does not care about essential matters, it is clearly a sign that it is not only sick but perhaps dead; fourth, the person dislikes the truth and has difficulty accepting or submitting to it; fifth, the person does not find comfort in being among the righteous people but finds a great deal of solace and peace while among the evildoers and sinful people; sixth, the person is susceptible to be affected by misconceptions and doubts. He is attracted to discussions, debates and arguments that surround such misconceptions rather than to reading the Quran and other such beneficial acts. This aspect can truly be seen nowadays among Muslims. Today, a Muslim may spend hours discussing, for example, whether or not hijaab is part of Islam or if riba (interest) is forbidden and so forth. Those who love this type of discussion and who get affected by it must be aware that this could be a sign of a sickness in their heart; seventh, the person may not be affected by any kind of admonition whatsoever. Some people, for example, can listen to Friday khutbah after Friday khutbah — even excellent khutbahs — and there is never any affect on them. This is another sign that the heart is diseased or truly dead."
Falcon then said, "O my brothers and sisters, each Muslim must make sure that his heart is pure and wholesome. The heart is the key to all of one's actions and behavior. If the heart is pure and wholesome, the person's deeds will be pure and wholesome. If the heart is ill, then that will be reflected in the deeds. Excessive heartiness, such as lazy and weak, sadness, selfish and stubborn, negative thinking, anxious, and the like, comes from the sickness of heart, which causes the body to feel the pain. Staying away from the forbidden and doubtful matters is one of the best ways to protect the heart from becoming diseased or ill. And Allah knows best. And Allah knows best."
References :"And whoever turns away from My remembrance - indeed, he will have a depressed life, and We will gather him on the Day of Resurrection blind." - [QS.20:124]
- Jamaal al-Din M. Zarabozo, Commentary On The Forty Hadith Of Al Nawawi Volume 1, Al-Basheer Publications
- Ahmad Farid, The Purification of the Soul, Compiled from the works of Ibn Rajab, al-Hanbali, Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya, and Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, Al-Firdous Ltd, London
